Charter school cover-up

The Green
Party is challenging the Government to come clean about how
much it’s planning to spend on the latest round of charter
schools, as officials warn of the serious risks involved in
opening more schools without first seeing whether the
existing ones are working.

A list of groups who expressed
an interest in applying to run a new charter school next
year was released last night. Many of the organisations are
religious and many failed in their bids to run charter
schools in the last application round.

This comes as
Ministry of Education officials warn that the Government has
no idea how charter schools may be hurting other schools,
that there are inconsistencies in the size of charter
schools and what’s considered efficient for other state
schools, and that there is a risk of continuing to fund them
every year before evaluating whether they’re working
well.

“Officials are warning of considerable risks
associated with ploughing ahead with more charter schools
without knowing whether the existing ones are working for
kids, whether they’re hurting other schools in their
neighbourhood, or are even good value for money,” Green
Party education spokesperson Catherine Delahunty said
today.

“It is amazingly arrogant to plough ahead with
plans to open more charter schools when the ones already
open have not been proven to be successful, could be
damaging other schools in the area, and are sucking up so
much money.

“The existing five charter schools are
already set to cost $9 million more than was budgeted last
year and the Government is keeping secret how much it is
planning to spent on the entire next round of new
schools.

“The total amount being spent on the current
round of charters is now $26 million over their first four
years - a staggering amount - which is probably why the
Government is keeping secret how much it plans to spend on
the next round.

“There was no mention at all in the
budget about how much National and Act were planning to
spend on the new round of charter schools. Instead the
amount is buried somewhere in the overall contingency
fund.

“Public schools throughout the country can only
dream of being given the amount of money that charter
schools get. Imagine what schools could achieve with five
times the amount they currently receive.

“No wonder
charters can afford to feed their kids, don’t need to ask
for parent donations and can provide free transport to and
from school.

“Charter schools were sold as an
alternative to ordinary state schools, which didn’t need
to follow the curriculum, meet quality standards or employ
trained teachers.

“But how is it possible to see how
well these schools are really doing when they’re getting
five times as much money as other state
schools?

“Charter schools are an extreme right idea
that’s rooted in the belief that the state does not have a
role in running schools. They’re an attack on public
education which use children in poorer communities to
experiment on,” said Ms Delahunty.

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